Tactical Diversion
by Ovo
Summary: A little story of what the Deep Eyes might have did to pass the time while aboard the Zeus space station.


_**Tactical Diversion**_

Hiding didn't work. He found that out hard way last time, when someone had ratted him out. He supposed that hiding was against the unwritten rules of the game, anyway.

Regardless, Neil hid in the shadows, the steel around him blending with his clothes nicely under the cover of darkness. His pursuer was barely visible, before the curve of the hallway that would have otherwise placed them out of sight of one another. The corporal weighed the dilemma of being caught to that of being seen. The deliberation went by fast; he leapt off the wall, back into freefall, snared the first handhold on the floor, and scrambled off down the corridor.

Awkwardly, he had been seen.

**---**

"Hey!" A low, demanding exclamation, yet not loud enough to echo through the space stations expansive ductwork, not to be followed immediately but as the scene unfolded, "Slow down, before you hurt someone."

_Or yourself_, Ryan winced as Jane landed flat against the ceiling. As much as the prospect of no gravity appealed to the childish and primitive parts of his mind, he opted for the milder, less troublesome metal-soled shoes that kept him affixed to whatever paneling had electromagnetic currents run beneath them.

Jane mumbled a clipped acknowledgement before continuing on her way. She didn't get far by the time Ryan's suspicion piqued. It was a known fact that the station was dead as far as entertainment went, and they had little reason to actually be there in the first place; he didn't see where the woman had to be in such a hurry.

The sergeant leapt after her, catching a leg and landing light on his feet. Jane twisted enough for him to know she had mastered a new glare. Unfazed, Ryan smiled, pulling her back far enough to pin her ankle to his shoulder. He kept a careful watch on the other foot, as he didn't imagine a quick boot in the face as a distant impossibility.

"Where're you going so fast, huh?" There was a slight trace of the thought, and by the time Jane had opened her mouth to answer, Ryan already had his, "And don't tell me it's none of my business, either. I'd like to make sure no one else is run over."

For a moment, he felt her introspective. He knew her well enough to discern she was hiding _something_, but what it was… was too far hidden to discover.

And he hated when she did that.

"We can stay here all day if you…" and thus went the other foot, fast but not fast enough; Ryan instantly had it, too, as it moved in the much anticipated path, "Hey! Calm!"

The corporal crossed her arms, pouting at him over her knees. At length, Ryan felt the slightest rift, which meant he could safely ask.

"Well?"

Jane huffed, as though it would explain everything, "I saw Neil going this way."

"I didn't." Ryan blinked, suddenly worried, as he hadn't seen the tech since far earlier in the afternoon, "You're enhan…. Wait, you aren't still after him since…" a slight trickle of thought confirmed his suspicion, but it didn't make sense, "Just what the hell'd he do?"

"Since when does he have to do anything?" the woman grinned deviously, "I'm bored."

"You're bored?" Ryan chuckled incredulously, "Jane, you can't just torment people because you're _bored_."

"Why not? It's just Neil," she pointed out, as though it made all the difference.

"You are bad, girl, you know that?"

He let go, and she coiled to land gently enough on the floor, almost standing with the man's help.

"Hey," Jane theorized, "Maybe if he complains enough, the captain'll think of a nicer station than the _Zeus_ next time he gets so desperate to visit the upper atmosphere."

"So this is one for the team, eh?"

"Of course!" her grin faltered before returning as a slighter smile, "If I can catch him within the hour, maybe I could get us to the _Raiden_ next time."

"Good luck," Ryan shook her thoughts out of his head. As fun as her flights of fancy could be, the fact that she was still hiding something bothered him…

…But he waved as she bounded off, and watched her build momentum to rival her prior speed, then hit and kick off the corner wall into the far corridor before he continued onward to his destination.

**---**

Neil blinked at the passing painted designations with mild panic. This pass hadn't crossed into the way he had come, as he had hoped. It had crossed a few, but not the route he was looking for, and he somewhat feared retracing his path or slowing down for being found.

Of course, there was always the possibility…

He bit his lip. Maybe he was being a little _too_ elusive. But then, he couldn't just sit and plain sight… it might have had an appealing result, but then it wouldn't be fair.

Despite it all, he really didn't feel like letting Jane win without a chance of his own.

He stopped at a crossing, landing feet to the wall opposing the way he'd come. Left or right, or right or left from the way back. Feeling lost, he considered right, left, or back, and chose right on a whim. Or was it left?

Much to his annoyance, the way ended at an airlock. He landed on the heavy doors and slid, studying the jagged seal without thinking of it.

He closed his eyes, and the jumbled memory of tunnels, corridors, and rooms he'd passed on the way spread over his mind. While he doubted the left… or right, would have held much of a difference, he thought he remembered a junction that had.

Pleased with himself, the tech kicked hard against the surface, not quite registering where he'd hit or how the sensitive panel shattered under his foot. He didn't notice the wrong until he heard the hiss of depressurization.

Surprised, not yet perceptive of the fact, he glanced back to see the heavy sheets of metal retracting – eyelids revealing the cold eye of space.

Despite the sudden horror, he found himself with unexpected time to react. The gradual flow of air was not the violent force he had anticipated, and for that he might have blessed his luck if he weren't still floating ever closer towards an instinctively terrifying doom.

He found through trial that the handrail was out of range. In alternate, the only other thing he could think of was the rim of the portal itself. When it was close, as soon enough it was, he reached out. One hand nearly caught the smashed panel's open circuitry, and he pulled it back as soon as he felt the searing charge. His left hand caught the edge, but barely, leaving him precariously balanced between inside and out, fearful of moving lest he accidentally dislodge himself.

His shirt snagged on something, pulling against him as he suspended; he couldn't imagine what it was, but determined that he couldn't simply wait until there wasn't an option left at all. He reached up, to find himself being pulled against the current. He almost fought it, still worried over losing his grip.

Jane, however, was not to be troubled. One foot braced against either side of the door, she hauled her catch out of the airlock, only mildly wearied by the plight.

"What the hell did you do?"

Neil squealed a number of excuses, all of which the woman tried to ignore while searching for a neat solution to their little predicament, and ending in a quite sincere, "I didn't mean to!" that heralded the following silence nicely.

After her silent deliberation, Jane carefully pushed him back the way they'd come. She didn't let him go until he, not really understanding the gesture and not in the least interested in releasing his grip on her until quite late on, was already clinging to the railing. Instantaneous of the thought, he inched as far down as he dared, reaching for her. She hesitated, staring through him for a moment before accepting the offer amicably.

"Keep moving," Jane mumbled, the sound catching strangely as the medium thinned, "Get to the next section; don't pass out."

"I'll try not to," Neil scoffed, as though he could ever try the opposite. He started forward, stopping when she tapped his hand.

"Neil; close your eyes."

The man shrugged, taking the instruction as a suggestion and following through as they carefully crept back along the way.

**---**

"You know, I'm not sure which was worse…" Neil mulled, breaking the reticence that had held since the pair had been dismissed from the operations administrator's office. He had thanked them, sounding anything but grateful, for exposing a possible hazard that had not been imagined before the 'little accident.'

Doubtful they were going to in the clear so easily, but until they were on Earth again, where there were actual things to be taken away or assigned as punishments, there was naught to be done about it.

"So you prefer jumping out of an airlock to losing," Jane stopped to peel the metal strips off of her boots, casting Neil an unsettled stare as she did so, "Do I class that as stupidity or childish selfishness?"

The tech considered carefully, before grinning, "If you _wanted_ to add a level of maturity to the game, we could always ask Ryan if he wanted to…"

"You know what I just realized?" cutting him off at the thought, the woman drifted towards him, barely managing to keep her feet on the floor between steps. Neil shook his head as she came to rest, well… close.

"Tag," she kissed him, not entirely unwilling; enthralled as he was, he didn't notice that or the way she pulled her legs up between them, "You're it."

She kicked off of him, hard, sending him off his feet. With the force, she disappeared around the nearest turn.

Neil coughed, intent on recovering his breath before even trying to give chase. In the interim, he wondered exactly _how_ she'd gotten so good at the game. That she had agreed had been a surprise, but she couldn't have been winning because it was his game!

The last thought stuck. It _was_ his game, which meant he could change the rules any time he felt like it!

Kicking off his shoes, he decided not to go find Ryan for help, at least not yet, and instead started his prowl of the station. The goal was now the operations administrator's desk, which meant Jane was heading in the completely opposite direction.

_**The End** _

* * *

**Working Title**: Kiss Chase 

**Inspiration**: Eddie Izzard, rambling. Possibly too much Eddie Izzard... rambling.

**Noteworthy**: ... Nothing, really. Entertaining, at least?

**Disambiguation**: Allegedly, decompression is not nearly as dramatic as it is oft made out to be. ... Not that I would know.

**Commemoration**: Two Years' Anniversary of writing fic.

_Derivative work of material © Square Pictures, Squaresoft. Reformatted to abide by 'site standards. None of the original text has been modified, 'cept in case of typo._


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